Friday, June 20, 2014

Fred Walton reports:

Search for MH370 to shift HUNDREDS OF KILOMETRES south

Inmarsat distances itself from a BBC documentary due to air on Tuesday night, suggesting the most likely crash site has yet to be searched.

SYDNEY - The drawn-out search for missing Malaysian Flight MH370 will revert to an area hundreds of kilometres south of the previously suspected crash site following new analysis of the plane's flight path, a report said Friday.

Inmarsat distances itself from a BBC documentary due to air on Tuesday night, suggesting the most likely crash site has yet to be searched.

Inmarsat, a key figure in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, has distanced itself from a BBC documentary due to air on Tuesday night, suggesting the most likely crash site has yet to be searched.

“The suggestion was the BBC was promoting the final resting place of the aircraft, but it doesn’t appear to me in the trailer that they do mention that – but maybe they do in the programme,” said Chris McLaughlin, the company’s senior vice president of external affairs.

The doubters have spoken.

A group of independent experts -- who prodded authorities to release satellite data on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 -- says it thinks it knows the approximate location of the missing aircraft.

Five separate computer models all place the plane in a tight cluster of spots in the south Indian Ocean — hundreds of miles southwest of the previous search site.

"We recommend that the search for MH370 be focused in this area," the group said in a statement late Tuesday.

"While there remain a number of uncertainties and some disagreements as to the interpretation of aspects of the data, our best estimates of a location of the aircraft (is) near 36.02 South 88.57 East," according to the statement, which was approved by 10 named experts.

The group opted to release its statement late Tuesday in advance of a BBC documentary on the missing plane, and ahead of the Australian government's announcement on the focus of the search, so that there would be no question about the independence of the group's findings, said one member of the group, American Mobile Satellite Corp. co-founder Mike Exner.

"We wanted to get our best estimate out," Exner said.

Investigators grappling to solve the mystery of the jet's disappearance are set to scour a zone 1,800 kilometres (1,116 miles) west of Perth - previously subject to an aerial search - when an underwater probe resumes in August, the West Australian said.

Citing unnamed US sources, the newspaper said Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) would soon announce the hunt will move 800 kilometres southwest from where it was previously focused.

It said these sources had revealed that survey ship Fugro Equator was already operating in this area and would soon be joined by Chinese vessel Zhu Kezhen.

A massive aerial and underwater search for MH370, which had 239 people onboard when it diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight path on March 8, has failed to find any sign of the plane.

Scientists from British company Inmarsat told the BBC earlier this week that the search had yet to target the most likely crash site, or "hotspot", after becoming diverted by pings thought at the time to have originated from the plane's black boxes.

Months have pass since the mysterious Malaysian plane disappeared.

Families and friends who have missing loved ones on Flight 370 are extremely frustrated by the lack of answers they are searching for.

Ethan Hunt, an Australian man and coordinator of a $5 million dollar fundraising goal, will go forth with the project he calls, “The Whistleblower Fund,” through a fundraising site called Indiegogo, which will begin on June 15, 2014. Hunt believes that with this much incentive, someone is bound to come forward with information leading up to the exact location of the plane.

The campaign members, which is being guided by 5 of the relatives, believe that the missing plane could be linked to either terrorist networks or the Secret Service. Even though the government has said they’ve done all they could do in order to find the airliner, they certainly have failed at providing beneficial evidence.

Danica Weeks, wife of Paul Weeks, a missing passenger from the jetliner, said, “ We’ve been cut off so many times at the gates that we’re just now having to take things into our own hands, think outside the box and just try and do something to find this plane.” Families refuse to give up hope in search of the 242 ft. plane that disappeared in route from Beijing to Kuala Lumpar. Hunt stated, “This unpredicted mystery is unprecedented in the history of aviation, and we need to work together collectively with one goal of finding the truth, the plane and the passengers.”

Updated: Saturday June 21, 2014 MYT 7:03:11 AM

New search zone for missing MH370

Hishammuddin: 'The search remains in the southern corridor.

SEPANG: The new search zone for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 is expected to be announced within the next two weeks, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

The Defence Minister said this followed new analysis of the plane’s flight path.

“We can expect it to be announced in one or two weeks’ time.

“Once the new search zone is confirmed, we will deploy our assets to assist in the search,” he told newsmen after attending a briefing on the preparation for the official opening of KLIA2 here yesterday.

The assets are the Prosas deep-tow synthetic sonar system and Remora remotely operated vehicle – the cost would be borne by Petronas and DRB-Hicom Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech) – and multi-beam echo sounder and sub bottom profiler provided by SapuraKencana.

Hishammuddin, who is the Acting Transport Minister, said that the bathymetric (ocean floor) survey was still being carried out by Dutch survey ship Fugro Equator and would soon be joined by Chinese vessel Zhu Kezhen.

“The search remains in the southern corridor because all leads that we have pointed to that area.

“We have to continue with the lead because the best lead we have is based on the handshake on the Inmarsat (satellite data) and still in the southern corridor,” he said.

On KLIA2, Hishammuddin said he was satisfied that the low-cost carrier terminal had been well-received by the public and airline companies since its opening on May 2.

“However, I have instructed the authorities to monitor the runway, taxiway and apron for sinking soil,” he said.

KLIA2 will be officially opened on Tuesday by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Free Trump T-shirt

Cluster Map

Like this Blog? Donate

Global Rumblings depends heavily
upon the the support that you provide
by clicking on and purchasing products
that are advertised here. Without your
support, this site could not sustain
itself because it takes time and money
to stay on the internet. Thank You!